Me and the Bearded Ladies, Audrie on left, Moonlily on the right
All of this week and next are very special days, as we have our friends' dog staying with us while they are on vacation. Audrie is a very sweet schnoodle (schnauzer and poodle mix) who gets along superbly with our Moonlily, a schnauzer-pbgv mix (petite basset griffon vendeen, don't I sound rather pompous). We have only had Moonlily (aka Toothless - I'll get into that later) for about 2 months now, and she is doing great, and does even better having others of her kind around. So having Audrie here is actually a blessing.
Moonlily is only about 2 years old, but she's had quite a life already. She was picked up as a stray in Duplin County, North Carolina, very pregnant. Whoever found her I suppose could not keep her so they took her to a shelter that was full to the brim and were not accepting anymore animals. The shelter manager took one look at her sweet face....
....and she couldn't turn her away, so she made room in the shelter for her to have her puppies. I have wonder whether dubbing her the virgin mary would be sacrilege...probably shouldn't risk it!
Moonlily was most certainly not a virgin dog, in fact she was so young when she had puppies I can only think that she was impregnated during her very first heat. Her puppies were golden in color, and looked nothing like her, but luckily, they have ALL been adopted now. The whole family has loving furever homes and that makes me very happy!
Moonlily was picked up by Schnauzer Rescue of the Carolinas, that runs rescues for schnauzer and schnauzer mixes all across North and South Carolinas as well as parts of Virginia. She was entered into the rescue, received complete veterinary care and spent two months in a foster home near Raleigh.
Moonlily came into our lives at a very transitional stage, only a month after we had lost our beloved basset hound Cleo, at the age of 10. She had apparently had heart problems that we had not known about, and died of heart failure. It was very sudden and we were both in shock. She had had a cough that the vet had diagnosed as kennel cough, rather common and very easy to treat. The vet was also shocked that this had happened. The whole experience was incredibly unfair. We are still healing from the experience, and will probably never fully get over the fact that she was so suddenly gone from our lives. She was a great dog, and she will always be loved, always be missed.
Noah and I had already been planning on adopting another dog but had never gotten around to it, plus, Cleo was never fond of other dogs. We knew we couldn't go for very long without a dog, so we started looking, just to see what was out there. We loved Audrie so much and we knew we wanted a dog who was small like her, with maybe some poodle thrown in the mix as a non-shed, hypoallergenic option. Sometimes, you don't always get what you initially seek, which was fine, because we adopted one of the best dogs you're ever likely to meet!
We weren't going to adopt as soon as we did, but I am glad we applied for Moonlily. Noah saw her picture first and we instantly fell in love. Her ad online said she was a schnoodle, so we thought, perfect! However, it turns out there is no poodle in her at all. I was surprised they labeled her as a schnoodle, because she definitely does NOT look like one! We were not at all discouraged to find out she was a terrier mix of some kind. Her picture and her story told us everything we needed to know.
The approval process was long but thorough. They check vet references and send a volunteer to check out where the applicants live and what condition their house is in. The whole process, start to finish, took about two weeks. We had to actually go to meet Moonlily first, before we could decide to adopt her. When we first met her, her name was Nikki, and she lived in a house with about a dozen other dogs, mostly small dogs. Moonlily had nothing to do with us, and was actually rather scared of us, when she first met us. Maybe that would have been a deal breaker for some people, but not us! We agreed to adopt her that night. Two days later we picked her up, and took her home! She was scared, yes, and to this day she still gets skiddish, but she has come around 10,000% and opens up even more each day. She is the sweetest dog I think I've ever known. She loves to get excited and jump up, paws on my shoulders, giving me tickly kisses (on account of her bristly beard!).
About the name...we had been thinking about names for days and days, but when we met her, none of the names we had picked out really worked for her. I wanted to name her Luna and Noah really wanted to name her Lilly. So Noah, being the genius that he is, concocted the name Moonlily, to satisfy both of us. It's perfect. For short, she gets called Lily, so I guess Noah kind of won that one, but I love it still. She's so delicate, just like a flower, that it really makes sense.
But not a few days after we got her, she got a little sick, and we had to give her medicine for colitis as well as a dewormer, because the vet found hookworms. Putting the pill in her mouth is when we noticed she was missing a tooth, a lower canine, causing her black-specked tongue to hang to the side when panting, causing some drool action. She's black and shiny and when you comb her hair up on her head it sticks up like a mohawk, or like dragon scales. Having the petite basset in her makes her long and low and when she runs along the grass she looks like she's flying. Have you seen How to Train Your Dragon? She reminds us of Toothless, the dragon. So we started calling her Toothless as a nickname. She knows all of her names, Lily, Moonlily and Toothless. She's probably the best ever, just saying.
They aren't identical, but close enough.
Moonlily is a dog's dog. She loves other members of her species, and in fact thrives with them around. She is not longer the scaredy dog she was before. In fact, I started socializing her almost right away. I took her walking and to the dog park, and each time she went walking with me, she trusted me a little more, and each time we went to the dog park, she came out of her shell even more. She loves being off leash, in fact she probably prefers it! She stays right with me, or never further than 40 yards away, tops. If she's get too far from me, she'll run back. I'm definitely her pack leader, and she responds to any corrections I give her. She rarely pulls on the leash, and if I stop walking to talk to someone or look at something, she'll stop and generally will sit or lay down and wait. She used to be afraid of Noah, but now they are best friends. And having dogs around just increases the rate at which she comes out of her shell. She likes to be one of them. She observes them. She does what they do.
Moonlily and Audrie with a friend at Country Park Dog Park, Greensboro
A month after adopting her we went down to Nags Head, NC, at the Outer Banks, to visit Noah's family and spend some time away from work and the old grind. Lily had a blast! She loved being with Noah's mom's dogs, Fly, an exuberant Australian Shepherd female, and Sox, a slightly timid but very cuddly Border Collie male. She learned how to show excitement, she took more interest in toys and eating food, especially treats, and she absolutely loved running with them up and down the wrap around deck and into the back yard.
But what Lily loved more than anything was the beach. She loved to walk and sniff around in the sand, chase crabs in their holes, and experience being off-leash (and trusted) for the very first time around us. By the end of our 5 day stay she was playing in old washed out sand castles and swimming in the Roanoke Sound. She loved swimming and then playing in the sand afterwards. She never did go into the ocean, due to the crashing waves, but hey, I don't blame her! We went on short jaunts at Bodie Island Lighthouse and Jockey's Ridge State Park, and she was just so well-behaved and eager to do more adventuring. I've never seen a dog have more fun than she had. She helped us relax and have fun too!
Ready for Adventure! At Bodie Island Lighthouse
The path through the marshes, Moonlily loved all the smells!
Me and Moonlily, at Jockey's Ridge State Park, looking towards the ocean!
When Moonlily got home, she seemed very worn out, and a little sullen. In a way, having those other dogs around showed her how to be a dog, and without them she was very introverted. Having Audrie around has helped tremendously. Audrie has taught her how to play, tug of war, and the very beginnings of fetch. We cannot be more pleased with Lily's ability to try everything out. She is a fun-loving dog, she just had to be shown the way. We have helped her, but couldn't have done it without Fly, Sox, Audrie, and all the dogs we've encountered at the dog park. We realize now that we won't be able to go very long without having another dog around, so Noah and I are currently on the lookout for another addition to our pack. We are taking our time, since Lily is involved, and will need to fully be able to get along with the new addition. We need to find a dog who will fit her perfectly and who will bring out the best in her. She's a very calm-submissive dog, perfect energy and she will be a great goodwill ambassador for the next rescue who enters our home and our hearts.
Good girl, Lily!
Audrie, in the meantime, is as chill as a cucumber...
I love these dogs. They are both just living life to the fullest, loving as much as they can love, without any conditions. I love how they are in tune with their bodies, how they just naturally perform yoga poses such as downward and upward dog, and cat stretches, how they play, how they eat, and how they look to us, humans, as the absolute best thing since sliced bread. And also, I love how they LOOK! Since they are both schnauzer mixes, they both have beards. Pretty impressive beards, at that. That's why we call them the Bearded Ladies!
I'm living for each moment with these special girls today. I hope you are as well! Thank you for reading!
